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Spinosaurus aegyptiacus
Spinosaurus was the largest carnivorous dinosaur of all time. It measured 18 metres (50 feet) long, 4.9 to 7.7 metres (16 to 25 feet) tall and weighed 11 (12 tons) tonnes. Spinosaurus lived in Cretaceous North Africa from 102 to 93 mya and was the dominant predator. It competed for food with ''Carcharodontosaurus'' and ''Sarcosuchus''. This massive carnivore preyed on fish, dinosaurs, and pterosaurs. Its crocodile-like skull, and especially the holes which were said to contain sensors, support this notion. Discovered by famous German palaeontologist Ernst Stromer in 1912, it was depicted with a skull resembling that of a Megalosaurid. During World War II, the type specimen was lost during an allied bombing raid, since the museum it was housed in was across the street from the Nazi headquarters. Then in 1986, the well known dinosaur ''Baryonyx'' was discovered, which changed the look of Spinosaurus forever. The old depictions made it look like a Megalosaur with a sail on its back, but Baryonyx changed this view to more of a bipedal crocodile with massive, muscular arms and a sail on its back. When the 2001 movie Jurassic Park III ''was released, ''Spinosaurus got its first major boost in popularity, as it was depicted tearing apart an air plane, killing a T.rex and overturning a boat. Palaeontologist Jack Horner said this to Steven Spielberg About replacing T.rex: "If the length of a carnivore was equal to how much strength it has, then Spinosauru''s is the ultimate predator". It is important to note that these are rather dubious observations and probably not meant to be taken too seriously. Horner is well known for criticising the feeding lifestyle and morphology of ''Tyrannosaurus rex, and at the time (in 2001) was very active and vocal in downplaying Tyrannosaurus rex, favouring Spinosaurus as though it were symbolic of his own views on Theropods of their size. With that in mind, it could be seen as either him supporting that notion, or mildly admitting it is wrong. In any case, Tyrannosaurus ''was more intelligent, as well as more derived and arguably stronger. However, if they were ever able to meet (they could not; living tens of millions of years apart, over 30 million years apart, and living on entirely different continents anyway) then in truth, ''T.rex could have simply snapped the Spinosaurus's neck with a single bite in reality. Spinosaurus had long jaws up to 5.5 feet (1.65 meters) long, and conical teeth evolved to snatch fish from the w ater. The conical shape spread the stress forces of struggling prey moving frantically in their jaws, in a more even manner, similar to how Crocodile teeth do. One of these fish is Onchopristis, a giant sawfish that was up to 26 feet long. Clearly, Spinosaurus had a large sail on its back that measured up to 8 feet tall. It had massive, clawed forearms that were up to 2.3 metres (7 feet) long. It used them to walk on land because of its front-heavy body. It had flat webbed feet for swimming and wading over muddy substrates. It had a long flexible tail like a Crocodiles to propel it through the water. It had small but powerful back legs that were only 7 to 10.5 feet (2.3 to 3.1 metres) long. It had a long neck up to 7.5 feet (2.3 metres) long for mobility when catching fish.. Category:Carnivores Category:Dinosaurs Category:Primeval Category:Cretaceous Period Category:Mesozoic Era Category:Saurischia Category:Vertebrates Category:Phanerozoic Eon Category:African animals Category:Spinosauridae